Steven M. Smith | |
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Steven Smith at the Stone Forest in China
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Born | Luton, Bedfordshire, England, UK |
Nationality | Australian and British |
Fields | Plant Genetics and Biochemistry |
Institutions |
Rothamsted Experimental Station |
Alma mater |
University of Leicester (BSc) Indiana University (MA) University of Warwick (PhD) |
Thesis | Synthesis of the small subunit of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase |
Doctoral advisor | R. John Ellis |
Doctoral students | Ian A. Graham |
Known for | Karrikins |
Notable awards | Fellowship of the Institute of Biology (1998) Australian Research Council, Federation Fellowship (2004) Chinese Academy of Sciences, Visiting Professorship (2013) Chinese Academy of Sciences, President’s International Fellowship, (2014) People’s Republic of China 'High-End Foreign Expert' Professorship, (2015-17) |
Spouse | Dr Brenda Winning |
Children | One daughter |
Website www.stevensmithresearch.com |
Rothamsted Experimental Station
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
John Innes Institute
University of Edinburgh
University of Western Australia
Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology
Steven M. Smith is Professor of Plant Genetics and Biochemistry at the University of Tasmania in Australia, and Professor in the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Beijing, China.
Smith was born and raised in Luton, Bedfordshire, England. He attended Luton Grammar School and Luton Sixth Form College before becoming an Assistant Scientific Officer at Rothamsted Experimental Station in Harpenden, Hertfordshire. Working at Rothamsted inspired him to embark on a career in plant sciences and he obtained university entrance qualifications through ‘day-release’ and evening classes at Luton College of Technology.
He was awarded first class honours in Biological Sciences from the University of Leicester, then went to Indiana University USA to study for a master's degree under the supervision of Carlos Miller, the discoverer of kinetin. Smith returned to the UK to study for a PhD under the supervision of Professor R. John Ellis, at the University of Warwick during which time he conducted some of his research at the Plant Breeding Institute, in Cambridge. He was then awarded a Fellowship to carry out research at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) Division of Plant Industry in Canberra, Australia. After a short period at the John Innes Institute in Norwich, he was appointed to a lectureship in the Botany Department at the University of Edinburgh. He spent 20 years in Edinburgh rising to become Head of the Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences. He served the Scottish Higher Education Funding Council as a Teaching Quality Assessor and was External Examiner at Ngee Ann Polytechnic in Singapore. Following the award of an Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship in 2004, Smith moved to the University of Western Australia and became Winthrop Professor of Plant Genomics. He was founding member of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology in 2005, and was a Chief Investigator until 2014. He also established and was Director of the Centre of Excellence for Plant Metabolomics. In 2015 he was appointed Professor of Plant Genetics and Biochemistry in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Tasmania. In 2013 and 2014 he was awarded Fellowships by the Chinese Academy of Sciences and appointed Visiting Professor in the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology in Beijing. He now holds a People’s Republic of China 'High-End Foreign Expert' Professorship, awarded by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs.